A thoroughly deserved victory

After having been blown away by Christ Gayle at Trinidad on
Saturday, India had everything to play for on Sunday at the
Queen's Park Oval. The series level at 1-1, the deciding match
was one last chance for India to redeem some pride at the end of
a long and hitherto bleak tour.

The rub of the green and run of the ball went mostly in India's
favour as Sourav Ganguly won the toss for the third time in
succession. India made most of the good fortune that came their
way, winning the match most comprehensively and taking the oneday series 2-1.

Given the fact that the track had already been used for 50 overs
on Saturday and it exhibited some wear and tear, the surface
almost resembled those commonly found in the sub-continent.
Ganguly, thus, must have been might pleased at the idea of
batting first on such a track. My own analysis was that the ball
would start to keep low in the second half of the match, making
it difficult for the batsmen to play their shots.

I was very impressed with India's game-plan, which laid a strong
emphasis on building partnerships. The fact that India put up 260
bears testimony to this positive batting approach. True, the
nature of the pitch was to the liking of the Indian batsmen, and
they relish batting on such easy-paced tracks, but the runs still
had to be made, and all credit to the Indians for making them.

The target was always going to be stiff, even for sides wellequipped to chase down such high totals. The West Indies never
really recovered from the double-blow early on when the openers
were dismissed for next to nothing. The West Indian batting,
throughout this tour, has revolved around Carl Hooper and
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but on Sunday, Hooper failed for once,
largely due to the mounting pressure of the required run-rate,
and Brian Lara too failed to get going.

Even though Ridley Jacobs and Chanderpaul put up a brilliant
fight, the Windies had surrendered the match in the early stages
of the run chase. Few teams can afford to lose the top half of
their batting line-up for just 88 runs and still chase down 248
runs in 44 overs.

Almost all of Ganguly's plans were executed to perfection. For
once, this Indian team looked like a well-knit unit, and they
deserved fully to win this crucial game. The 2-1 one-day series
win will help team morale, even though they lost the Test series
by the same margin.

I should also commend Ajit Agarkar for his effort in India
winning the one-day series. He seems to have found his rhythm and
has been bowling well under pressure. The only area of concern is
that India still seem to be struggling when it comes to wicketkeeping. With the World Cup coming up in 2003, India should be
playing a specialist stumper rather than have Rahul Dravid to
plug the hole.

I am sure the team management has discussed the long-term aspects
of his wicket-keeping assignment with Dravid. If they have,
however, Dravid will have to think first as a wicket-keeper and
then as a batsman.

The idea of sacrificing a specialist wicket-keeper to include the
extra batsman baffles me, especially with a formidable line-up
already in place. I also think India should always play five
specialist bowlers. More thought, along such lines, should go
into team composition, and we cannot afford to experiment, as we
did in the Caribbean, once the World Cup rolls around.

Having said all this, I still feel that the Indians had a golden
chance to win the Test series as well. After leading the series
1-0, they squandered a great opportunity. My feeling is that
India should always play two spinners, since spin is their
strength. I am happy, however, that the Indian side will at least
return home with smiles on their faces.

In the interim, England have been playing some good cricket. I am
sure that the Test series against England will be a closely
contested one. Even though the series will be played in the
second half of the English summer, I expect the tracks prepared
for the series to offer considerable bounce. Javagal Srinath's
experience in English conditions will definitely be missed, but
the show must go on, and it is for the younger brigade to take up
the challenge in England.